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Bag of Wire

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The Nervebreakers

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The Teenage Queers & The Enemy

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From their most infamous moment, the band lunges forth like an unholy zombie, lurching and screaming its rotting brains out, Soxx shredding his throat as he shrieks and sneers about hacking up nuns and priests.
by Andy Beta, Pitchfork Magazine

SMWRG carved their own niche in Texan Punk History with a singularly inspired mixture of misanthropy, psychosis, and an audience-baiting live show that bordered on performance art.by Andrew Card, Mojo Magazine

SMWRG played punk rock and sculpted it into a creature of dark, alarming beauty. They gave off that dangerous feeling that only the great bands can muster. They hunkered down in the trenches and howled like wounded beasts.by John Darnielle, The Mountain Goats

24 Photos (Note: clicking any one image brings up the entire gallery)

SMWRG band

band biography

STICK MEN WITH RAY GUNS

See History section for more detail

Stick Men With Ray Guns (SMWRG) formed in Dallas, Texas, in the spring of 1981 with Clarke Blacker on guitar (ex-Nervebreakers & Bag of Wire), Bobby Soxx on vocals (ex-Teenage Queers & the Enemy) and Ft. Worth drummer Scott Elam. We were active through January, 1987 when we took a break to work on other things. SMWRG reformed in 1988, playing a few shows in Dallas and around the state before breaking up for good in the summer of 1988.

SMWRG was performance art. We used extreme methods to point out the irrationality of life, hatred, violence and racism. Although obviously based around front man Bobby Soxx, SMWRG soon developed an unusual stage persona, one with no pretense of rationality. We simply let the band seek its own level, and that level was strange indeed.

What you hear with SMWRG is exactly what we wanted to do together. We could not have cared less if it was popular or if it ever made any money. I wish that more bands felt that way, maybe their music would be more interesting.